Tag Archives: Picture

This past weekend, I tabled at SFZF (San Francisco Zine Fest) — my first time tabling!😮 I didn’t sell as much as I had hoped, but it was a great experience nonetheless. I met a number of really nice and talented artists/zinesters and handed out a ton of The Poet and the Flea postcards & The First Reich flyers. Now, I feel much more prepared for SPX in September and APE in October.

I am very pleased to announce that my first zine is finally in production!!! I’m currently assembling a number of copies to sell at various expos/fests/conventions I’ll be attending later this year as well as for my upcoming online store (which I’m hoping to launch sometime this summer).

As I mentioned before, my first zine is an illustrated Pre-Raphaelite poem. The poem will remain a secret until closer to the zine’s release. But I’ll give one free copy to the first person who can correctly guess which poem it is.

No one has yet to guess the correct poem, so here we are at round three! Therefore, I’ve added a few more hints (#6 and #7) I hope will help quickly determine a winner.🙂

In February, I made arrangements with my friend Tina and about 3-4 of her friends to go in together on a table at SPX (Small Press Expo) in Maryland. And, on March 30th, after a series of techinical difficulties, I learned that we got the table!!😀

That means I’ll be exhibiting at SPX later this year on September 14th and 15th selling copies of my upcoming zines, plush toys, and whatnots with some wonderful company. Can’t wait!

＊If anyone has helpful advice about SPX, I would be eager to hear it. I’m trying to figure out how many zine copies, plush toys, and whatnots I’ll need to bring with me or ship by mail. What to do? ╰( ´◔ ω ◔ `)╯

Disclaimer: I do not own this image!!

In the meantime, I’m compiling a list of zine fests/expos I hope to attend and possibly exhibit at this year.

As you may know, I attended APE last year — so I think I have a pretty good idea what it will be like. I have absolutely no idea about my chances of nabbing a half-table, but I did send in a form that apparently means they’ll inform me when tables go on sale. We’ll see what happens!!

Truthfully, I know very little about Assassin’s Creed or Homestuck, but so far Assassin Bound is quite entertaining.😀 My friend has wonderfully snarky humor and it’s fun to participate by offering suggestions as to what should happen next. Whether a diehard Assassin’s Creed and/or Homestuck fan or not, Assassin Boundis worth a look!

A few weeks ago, I finished the pen work for my first zine. I’ve been very busy recently, but hope that sometime soon I’ll be able to get this zine scanned, printed, and watercolored. Then, once The Flea plush toy is ready, I’m planning on opening my online store!😀

Here are a few closeups of some pen work for the zine:

As I mentioned before, my first zine is an illustrated Pre-Raphaelite poem. The poem will remain a secret until closer to the zine’s release. But I’ll give one free copy to the first person who can correctly guess which poem it is.

I’ve realized that I made this contest a little bit too hard. Thusly, I added a few more hints (#4 and #5). Also, be sure to check the comments of my post First Zine Progress and Contest!! for even more hints. I will be shocked if no one produces the correct answer this time!

Yesterday, I was incredibly excited to discover that the awesome Ms. Blake Woodruff of imoutoart.wordpress.com (I’ll call her Ms. Woodruff as to not get confused with Mr. Blake!) posted a fan art of my graphic novel The Poet and the Flea. As far as I know, this is the first ever fan art of The Flea and feels like a huge milestone in The Flea‘s progress!!

I asked Ms. Woodruff for permission to repost her illustration here on my blog (see below) and hope that all my readers/followers will take a look at the impressive work on her blog and website!

I especially admire the deep colors/tones she used for this piece and get a total kick out of The Flea lurking in the background!

I met my Barcelonian friend Elena in Tokyo of all places. We were both studying at Sophia University for a year.

We met through a mutual acquaintance and the three of us ended up on a three day trip to Okinawa. Both Elena and I share an enthusiasm for Okinawan culture and were so excited to go. We managed to see everything on our checklist and had an overall wonderful time there.

As it turned out, a few weeks later, Elena ended up moving into the same dorm as me. We ended up spending memorable times together, staying up to the wee hours of the morning chatting and eating candy.

Now, having only recently moved to San Francisco, we live on practically opposite sides of the globe. But we still Facebook and tweet at each other. And, most excitingly, we send packages through snail mail to each other, back and forth from Spain to the States.

While we were friends in Tokyo, Elena had no idea I drew at all. This was during my college phase of not having time to draw. Boy, was she surprised when she learned I was working on my graphic novel The Poet and the Flea. And, quickly, she became my #1 fan!

Elena became smitten by the rose from page 27 of The Flea (as seen on Part 4 of Behind the Scenes). So, for the winter holiday, I sent her the following ink and watercolor rose.

In return, at the end of January, I received a wonderful little New Year’s present from Elena (see photos below)! She sent me a delightfully long handwritten letter, a bag of candy, and a flyer of a favorite Japanese band called exist†trace (which I believe Elena was handed by the lead singer named Jyou after a The GazettE concert).

I would love for Elena to come visit San Francisco one day, or for me to visit her in Barcelona (when I’m not an unpaid intern making absolutely no money). Elena is really the only person I keep in touch with from my year abroad and I’m proud to have such an awesome friend! Maybe someday we’ll even return to Japan and even Okinawa together.